The mountain bike athletes were on the start line under gloomy skies for the first races of the Canada Summer Games, on Saturday, August 3rd.

Heavy rains over the last few days left the riders with a wet and muddy course at Mont Bellevue. Riders were looking forward to racing on the fun technical six kilometre course in Sherbrooke, featuring several technical features as well as several demanding climbs, which played a critical role in the selection of the race.

The Women’s race featured a strong field of top riders, including 2013 Canadian U23 Champion Frederique Trudel (Quebec). As the women waited on the start line for the race to begin, rain started again and soaked the already wet course, increasing the technical difficulty of the course.

Up the first climb off the start a select group of six formed which would ultimately determine the race. By the end of the first lap, a group of three had distanced themselves from the rest of the field : Frederique Trudel (Quebec) Laura Bietola (Ontario) and Andreane Lanthier-Nadeau (Quebec). In pursuit of the leaders were Karlee Gendron (Manitoba), Laurence Harvey (Quebec) and Haley Smith (Ontario).

As the rain continued during the second lap, the leaders distanced themselves from the pack as they solidified their lead. Gendron, despite being sick overnight, charged past Lanthier-Nadeau into third place.

Heading out onto the third and final lap, the rain began to let up as the racers continued. Halfway through the final lap, Bietola decided to make a move for the win: "I knew Frederique was strong, but I wasn't sure how she was feeling today, so I decided I needed to test and see what she had, so I attacked." Ultimately the attack was unsuccessful. As the riders emerged from the woods for the final time, it was Frederique Trudel who crossed the line first, just 19 seconds ahead of Laura Bietola (Ontario) in second and Karlee Gendron (Manitoba) in third.

Following the race, a very excited Trudel, newly crowned Canada Games Champion, commented: "I'm not used to a three-lap race like this, so I just went really hard off the start and held it to the end. These Canada Games have been a really awesome experience and I'm really excited for the rest of the week."

Unlike the women's race, the men began under sunny skies, but the threat of more rain remained. As the men hit the first climb a lead group of seven had formed by the time they hit the feed zone. This lead group contained three Quebec riders (Léandre Bouchard, Jeremy Martin and Antoine Caron), one Nova Scotia rider (Andrew L'Esperance), one rider from British Columbia (Evan Guthrie), and one from Ontario (Mitch Bailey).

Heading out onto lap two, L'Esperance found himself three seconds off the back of this main group. It was during the second lap that Bouchard attacked, which splintered the group.

In the last lap, Bouchard increased his lead to 21seconds over Caron in second, with Bailey and Martin a further 10 seconds back. In the fourth and final lap, Bouchard continued to open his lead as the rain started up again. Caron held on in second as Bailey gapped Martin for third. As the last lap wore on, the rain picked up and the riders emerged from the woods covered in mud. The first out of the woods and across the line was Léandre Bouchard (Quebec), 32 seconds ahead of Antoine Caron (Quebec). Mitch Bailey (Ontario) finished third at 1:42 behind Bouchard.

Bouchard was really happy with how the race played out: "I got a good start and rode with Jeremy Martin, and then kicked on the second lap and got a gap. Then I just held my pace until the end. I'm really happy with my race today and looking forward to the Sprint race on Wednesday." Bouchard is the recently crowned Canadian Sprint Champion and will be looking to take home another Gold medal on Wednesday.

The Mountain Bike athletes will compete in two more events on the trails of Mont Bellevue this week. August 5th will feature the Team Relay, which will see the provinces race head to head against each other. Wednesday will see the riders take on the exciting cross country sprint event, also known as the Eliminator, which will see riders race in elimination heats, as they move towards the Finals. The top two riders will move on to the next round, and the others are eliminated. The sprint will be contested on a short 800m circuit, featuring a mix of open trails, tight single track, jumps and berms, all ending with a drop off right before the finish.